1on1: Bill Elliott (cont'd)

Q: Is that a byproduct of this economy?

Elliott: A lot of areas have not been so affected, per se. But here in the Atlanta area, there are a lot of people who have been involved in this development deal. And what I've been sayin' is you look back on the incredible growth we've had the last 10 or 15 years, and you can understand why. It's been too easy to get credit. Some people have taken advantage of the system, and there's been too much money floating around because there has been too much credit. And now we're payin' the price.

We're at a real crossroads as to where we're gonna end up. You take a look at racin' and it takes a lot of money. It ain't like other sports, where you can take a kid down to the sporting-goods store and go buy up a bunch of stuff, and then go and play in your backyard every afternoon. Racin' doesn't have that luxury. It's always going to cost a lot of money to go test or run or buy parts and tires. That's what separates it. And what I think it's going to become, it's going to become a sport where only the people who have the money to be able to afford it are gonna be able to do it. It's gonna be the kid who's got a lot of money or has access to a lot of money. Look at Joey Logano. I think that's a prime example.

Q: Your own son Chase will soon turn 13. What's Chase driving these days?

Elliott: He ran a Bandelero this past winter. And then in the spring, in April, he started runnin' a Legend car. And he's done real well. He's won three races now -- one at Atlanta, two at Lanier. And we went to the nationals in Minnesota the other week -- and he qualified third and finished sixth out of a lot of cars. I guess they had 60 or 70 cars there in his class. He did a really good job. It was his first really big race -- with kids from all around the nation who came in.

Q: What do you think of the new car being run full-time for the first time this season in the Sprint Cup Series?

Elliott: It's not bad, but it's so tempermental. I mean, you either hit it or you miss it. I'm all for the safety aspect of it. It has been a more durable, safer car -- and that has been very appealing for a lot of people. The other side of it is it is what it is and you've got to make the best of it.

When I talk to fans, what they have a hard time with is it's just a generic car. It don't resemble anything a person would drive on the road. They all look the same. Normally, a lot of places I go to do different things, I'll ask the fans what they think. And what they feel gave NASCAR its identity was through the '60s and the '70s and you'd see that Ford run around the racetrack, and they'd say, 'Well, that looks like the one I drive into the racetrack.' And if that car won, they could go to work on Monday and boast, 'Hey, man, that's what I drive.' Where with this thing, that's where you disconnect with the fans.

Q: Speaking of the fans, what does it mean to you to have been voted the most popular driver in NASCAR 16 times?

Elliott: That meant a lot. I had a lot of people that were very supportive. Granted, maybe I wasn't a flashy kind of guy like Tony [Stewart] or Jeff [Gordon)] or some of those guys.

But I think along with the way we started, and being able to have that fan base, was more important to my career than anything else. Granted, the wins and everything else was all part of it. But man, I'm gonna tell you what, we started with nothin'. I mean nothin'. We built it out of Georgia and won a championship here with a group. We didn't go to North Carolina; we didn't buy our way in. We didn't do all that stuff, and I think that was important, too.

Q: How much time have you been spending in Colorado lately? Rumor has it you're a heck of a snowboarder ...

Elliott: Not as much as I had been. We moved out there in '05 for a couple of years, and that first winter or two I probably spent 35 or 40 days on the mountain. Last year was not as much. Chase was starting to race more and then we decided to move back to Georgia. So it's been less and less. But I love it out there. It could be more once I get some of this other stuff behind me. I've kind of put that on the backburner, so to speak.

Q: What do you enjoy about snowboarding so much?

Elliott: Just gettin' away. Just being in the elements and being away from everything and everybody. You're in your own little world. I guess I relate it to either flyin' or drivin' a racecar.

To me, the greatest thing about drivin' a racecar is that when I sit down in that thing and put the window net up and get started, you're in your own little world. It's just you and that piece of machinery. And you're tryin' to get it to do what you want it to do and not what it might want to do.